


Get Up Outta The Dirt

by SocialDegenerate



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Status Effects, Toad!Ignis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-13 22:32:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12993927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SocialDegenerate/pseuds/SocialDegenerate
Summary: Ignis gets hit with the toad status during a battle. Twice.Even as a toad, he was so unmistakably Ignis from his strange markings to the utterly unimpressed look on his little face, and Gladio took a split second to run his finger along Ignis’ warty body before he dove out of range from another attack.





	Get Up Outta The Dirt

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jakface](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jakface/gifts).



> Yeah okay so I know XV is super boring with its frog/toad status, but I’m taking artistic licence and running with beautiful purple coeurl print Toadnis (who is a toad rather than a frog because he needed to be more fat and round). Fight me.
> 
> Also do you know how many times I got hit with the toad spell, had to wait it out, and then immediately got toaded again? _God._

“Holy shit.”

“Gladio-”

“Yeah, yeah,” Gladio laughed, reaching past Noctis to scoop Ignis off the ground so that he wouldn’t get taken out by the Nagarani’s tail. Even as a toad, he was so unmistakably _Ignis_ from his strange markings to the utterly unimpressed look on his little face, and Gladio took a split second to run his finger along Ignis’ warty body before he dove out of range from another attack.

Ignis was going to _kill him_ when he was back to normal, but that was a problem for Future Gladio to deal with.

Rifling through the armiger, Gladio groaned when he realised that there was no Maiden’s Kiss to be found, but he didn’t want to risk fighting with Ignis tucked into the crook of his arm. Glancing up to make sure that the other two weren’t in imminent danger, Gladio took a moment to look around and find a safe place to leave Ignis to recover naturally.

“Wait here,” Gladio instructed as he let Ignis down behind a pile of rubble from a broken wall, spotting Prompto nearby and grinning.

“Did you get a picture of that?” He asked as he ran over to Prompto, using his shield to fend off another heavy tail swing as they both hid behind it.

“You know it,” Prompto grinned, and Gladio clapped him on the back as Prompto rolled out from behind Gladio’s shield and sank a volley of shots into the Nagarani. They didn’t seem to be doing a whole lot, but with their strategist currently incapable of human speech there wasn’t a whole lot they could do beyond taking random guesses at what might weaken it.

“I think this might work!” Noctis yelled, a lance in his hands. Warping towards the Nagarani, he sliced a long line down the daemon’s body, although it barely seemed to give the creature pause. “...Or not. Sorry, no good! Is Iggy back yet?”

“We’re outta Kiss,” Gladio shouted back, glancing over his shoulder to see Ignis perched on _top_ of the rubble like a fucking dumbass. He’d been toaded in other battles, so he knew that it was hard to think like a rational human with a toad brain that was nowhere near powerful enough, but that didn’t stop him from groaning and sprinting back over to return Ignis to safety.

Surely his natural danger instincts would kick in sooner or later, but all Ignis did when Gladio’s hands closed around him was give a trilling croak, settling his round body firmly into Gladio’s hold.

“Iggy, this is the cutest fucking thing I’ve ever seen, but you’ve gotta stay _down here_ ,” Gladio said, managing to dislodge Ignis back behind the rubble. Giving what sounded oddly like an indignant croak, Ignis shuffled towards Gladio’s foot, only for Gladio to nudge him back before returning to the battle in time to hear Noctis shouting that Prompto had been stoned.

He hadn’t exactly had a lot of time to inspect Ignis’ toad form, considering that the Nagarani was alive, kicking and _angry,_ and so he desperately hoped that Prompto’s camera survived being turned to stone. He’d seen the other two as toads but they had _nothing_ on Ignis, with his purple coeurl print and the little markings around his eyes where his glasses would have been.

Not to mention that his gravity-defying fringe was apparently toad-proof, as well.

Even as he fought to withstand the Nagarani’s attacks with his shield, giving Noctis enough time to jam a gold needle into Prompto’s immobilised body, Gladio found himself laughing as he thought about Ignis the toad. It was probably adrenaline affecting him, but he was utterly captivated by the way his tall and perfectly muscled boyfriend had become such a fat, round little thing.

Without a doubt, the perpetually immaculate Ignis would _hate_ the thought of looking like that, despite the fact that Gladio loved it.

Still laughing, Gladio only stopped when a hand wrapped around his forearm, glancing to the side to see Prompto look at him with obvious worry while he shot a few more times at the Nagarani. “Noct, can this thing cause confusion? I think it might’ve hit Gladio.”

“Ugh, that’s just what we need,” Noctis groaned as he warped nearby, his daggers quickly disappearing and being replaced with a sword. “You’d better move in case he gets stabby.”

“I’m fine,” Gladio shot back, shaking off Prompto’s hand and summoning his greatsword. “Was thinking about toad Iggy.”

“Frognis,” Prompto said with a snort, but Gladio shook his head and grinned as they both leapt away from an attack.

“He’s clearly a toad, Prompto. Duh.”

“Oooh, well look at you,” Prompto grinned back, switching his pistol for a rather deadly-looking piece of machinery. “No wonder you and Sania get along so well.”

“She’d _love_ this,” Gladio said, not that he’d ever let the researcher get her hands on Ignis while he was a toad. Despite appearances, he was a _human_ , and Gladio didn’t exactly think that he would consent to being studied.

A dagger whistled past Gladio’s head to sink into the Nagarani before disappearing, and Gladio whipped around to see Ignis moving towards them, straightening his jacket and looking a little unsure on two legs. “If you _ever_ consider giving me to Professor Yeager, I’ll have your head.”

“Iggy,” Gladio sighed in relief as Prompto cheered, Noct yelling _“welcome back”_ from where he was hanging off the wall. “How you feeling?”

“...Big,” Ignis said dryly, making Gladio laugh. “But I did see a few things that might help us out.”

The three had to scatter when the Nagarani lost interest in Noctis and whirled around on them, although Ignis managed to tell them to use swords and shields wherever possible, as they seemed to hurt the daemon more than anything else. That put Ignis and Prompto at a disadvantage, but with Noctis and Gladio leading the assault the tide finally seemed to be turning.

Of course, when backed into a- literal _and_ figurative- corner, the daemon let out another noxious haze of magic and it was all Gladio could do to grab the nearest person and dive out of range. In that instant, it happened to be Prompto, and while Noctis had easily warped to safety, Ignis had been too close to the Nagarani to escape in time.

As the haze cleared, he was nowhere to be found, and Gladio actually felt the beginnings of panic as he desperately searched around the gigantic snake for the tiny toad. A rattling croak eventually caught his attention, Gladio heaving a sigh as he spotted Ignis crawling towards him.

At least _Noctis_ tended to become a different kind of frog thanks to the strange quirk of daemon magic interacting with Lucis Caelum magic, which made him a little more mobile; Ignis as a toad was bigger and slower, a dangerous combination on a battlefield. This time, when Gladio tucked Ignis into the crook of his arm, he didn’t dare to put him down and risk losing sight of him again.

Switching to a one-handed shield, he let Prompto take his place alongside Noctis’ offence, protecting the other two whenever he could and getting in a few solid hits with his shield at every opportunity. Thankfully Ignis seemed content not to move, settling safely into Gladio’s elbow as he ran around the battlefield, so it was easy for Gladio to hold him as protectively close as he dared.

Ignis let out a few croaks every so often, instinctively reacting to danger before Gladio saw it coming, and in a brief moment of respite as the Nagarani futilely attempted to get at Noctis where he was hanging high up on the wall, Gladio pet Ignis’ little head in thanks. His heart nearly melted when Ignis snuggled further against the warmth of his arm in response, just like he did on the rare nights when they got to share an actual bed, but he couldn’t stop to appreciate it when Noctis was in the middle of warping back down to drive his sword into the daemon’s head.

“It’s almost down, I think,” Prompto said as he ran behind Gladio, snapping a few pictures while he went. “Iggy’ll be back to normal in no time. Uh, again.”

“Kind of a shame,” Gladio said, laughing when Ignis gave him a grumpy-sounding croak. “What? You’re all cute and round like this.”

“Forget the giant snake lady thing, Iggy’s gonna kill you first,” Prompto said, shaking his head and running off again. Still, he certainly hadn’t been wrong about the first point, and Gladio felt himself relax a little as the daemon clearly reached its last legs. He was on the lookout for a final surge in strength, of course, but the Nagarani was barely fighting back as Noctis hit it with every royal arm he’d collected.

Satisfied that the battle was more or less over, Gladio tugged Ignis from the crook of he elbow and held him up to eye level, the lack of light making it hard for him to make out too many details. If he squinted, he could see the decidedly unnatural pattern and colouring running across Ignis’ head and back, and Gladio certainly didn’t think he’d ever seen a toad with such a pronounced frown.

He honestly looked _ridiculous_ , although still cute, and Gladio couldn’t keep down the laughter that bubbled out of him as the sight of his stunning boyfriend as a fat, frowny toad. It was more delighted than malicious, but Ignis croaked his complaints anyway, refusing to settle down when Gladio ran apologetic fingers along his back.

...It probably didn’t help that he was laughing as he did it, not that there wasn’t much he could do to help that. Seeing Ignis’ patented unimpressed expression on a chubby-faced toad was too much, especially with battle adrenaline continuing to course through his veins.

It almost felt like a shame as he heard the Nagarani screech its death throes, Gladio barely managing to react in time when a fully-grown Ignis was suddenly resting in his arms. Managing to catch him with one arm around his back and the other hooked under Ignis’ knees, Gladio smiled and pressed his lips to Ignis’ cheek. “Hello again.”

With the rest of him changed, Ignis’ expression still looked exactly as it had a minute earlier, even if it was quickly followed up with a raised eyebrow when Gladio almost started laughing again from the similarity.

“Put me down,” Ignis grumbled, and Gladio suspected that it was his pride that was bothering him more than anything else. Regardless, he did as asked, and Ignis promptly set to brushing as much muck as he could from his clothes.

“Sorry, Igs,” Gladio said, planting a hand on one side of Ignis’ head and pulling him close to kiss to his hair. “You looked too cute as a round little toad with glasses markings and a pout.”

“Yes, well, thank you for keeping me safe, but we’re _never_ mentioning this again.” Despite his unimpressed tone, though, Ignis still placed a gentle hand on the small of Gladio’s back, not pulling away until Noctis and Prompto walked over. He endured their gentle ribbing with only a minor eye roll, and then pointed out the direction they needed to go in.

While Noctis immediately followed along when Ignis began walking, Gladio snagged Prompto by the elbow before he could join them, lowering his voice so that they wouldn’t be heard.

“You _have_ to send me the pics you got of that,” Gladio said, gesturing to the pocket that held his phone. “I promise I won’t let Iggy get mad at you for it, because it’s my fault.”

“I got some great ones,” Prompto muttered back, Gladio clapping him on the shoulder and then nudging him to start walking.

“I owe you one.”

* * *

“You _cannot_ be serious.”

“You bet I am.”

_“Gladiolus.”_

“Oh no, not the full name,” Gladio said, smirking at Ignis and wiggling his phone in Ignis’ direction. “It’s the perfect wallpaper, Iggy: the two best looking creatures in existence.”

“It’s a photo of you cuddling a _toad,”_ Ignis said, and Gladio decided not to mention that his scowl almost matched that of the one in the picture.

“No, it’s a photo of me cuddling you, and it just so happens that you make a damn fine toad. Look how round you are!” Gladio was never going to complain about Prompto pulling risky stunts in battle for photography opportunities ever again, because the files he’d been sent were more than perfect. Ignis made the most adorable toad Gladio had ever seen, and he was so glad that he was never going to have to let the image of it go.

Despite that, Ignis didn’t look exactly convinced, and Gladio relented. “I promise I’m not making fun of you, but if it makes you feel bad, I’ll change it.”

Ignis was silent for a moment before he adjusted his glasses and looked up at Gladio. “Do you _honestly_ think it’s cute?”

“Well, I definitely prefer you as a human,” Gladio said, giving Ignis a flirtatious wink that earned him a slightly amused eye roll. “But you manage to make anything look good, even being a weird purple toad.”

“I suppose there is a certain unique quality to it...to _me,”_ Ignis said, wrapping his fingers around Gladio’s wrist until he took the hint and lowered the phone.

“I’ve never seen a better looking toad,” Gladio agreed, solemnly nodding his head. His serious expression cracked when Ignis lightly tapped him across the bicep, but he wasn’t the only one.

“If you’re that attached, you can keep it,” Ignis said, smiling faintly in amusement and shaking his head. “I question your taste sometimes, you know.”

“You’re the one who’s dating me,” Gladio pointed out, and Ignis threw his hands in the air with feigned irritation.

“And I ask myself why every single day,” Ignis said, although the fondness in his voice and on his face was unmistakeable in its sincerity.

“C’mon, Igs, you know it’s true love when they still think you’re gorgeous as a toad.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Ignis said, but he smiled at Gladio in the way that always made his chest feel warm, and Gladio tucked his phone back into his pocket before stepping forward and wrapping his arms around Ignis.

“Thanks for letting me keep it.”

“Yes, well, I think I might have to ask Iris if she happens to have any pictures of you saved that _I_ might like to use for myself.”

“Ah, fuck.”

“Indeed.”

Snorting a laugh into Ignis’ hair, Gladio held him a little tighter, although he couldn’t _quite_ make himself relax completely.

He kind of dreaded to think what kind of horrible blackmail material Iris had on him.

**Author's Note:**

> [Visit me on Tumblr!](http://socialdegenerate.tumblr.com)


End file.
